Starting goaltenders battling fatigue as playoffs loom

Dallas Stars' Devin Shore (17) slides into goaltender Kari Lehtonen (32), who replaced starter Ben Bishop following an awkward save, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, March 18, 2018, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Trevor Hagan/The Canadian Press via AP)(Photo11: The Associated Press)

A starting NHL goaltender bears a burden unlike any position in hockey and few others in sports, and the resulting pressure builds up over the course of a season. By this time of year, with the playoffs on the horizon, No. 1 goalies have grinded through almost six months of work and are battling fatigue that threatens to derail their team's hopes.

Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay is going through it for the first time while Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals is used to it by now. Goalies of all ages have no choice but to manage the physical and mental hurdles.

"It's one of those things that you've got find ways to make sure you're prepared and ready to play every game," Holtby said. "As a goaltender, there's not much room to take nights off."

It's worse for the goalies whose teams can't afford to start a backup. Boucher started the final 13 games for Philadelphia in 2010 to help them make the playoffs, Jonathan Quick started 20 of the final 21 games for the Los Angeles Kings when they tried to make a furious push to make it in 2015 and Kari Lehtonen could be counted on to play the final nine games of the Dallas Stars' season now as they claw for a spot.

"You'll go through the whole night thinking about tomorrow, show up to the rink in the morning thinking about tonight and then you show up to the game thinking about the game," said Boucher, now an analyst for NBC Sports. "Not until that horn goes off at the very end can you finally go, 'Whew,' and take a deep breath and hopefully it's in a celebration with your teammates. .... You have a shower, you feel good about things, you go home, you kind of decompress and then the next day it starts again: the butterflies, the nerves, the thinking about your opponent. And that's the mental fatigue that comes into it."

That's what Vasilevskiy is dealing with at age 23, 58 starts into his first season as the full-time starter and the league leader in victories.

"Tiredness is something that I probably never faced before," he told The Tampa Bay Times.

The same goes for Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who is between the pipes for meaningful games and on the cusp of his first playoff appearance. Jets goaltending coach Wade Flaherty talks to Hellebuyck almost daily about what he needs to be successful, and the staff pays careful attention to making sure the 24-year-old is good to go.

Coach Paul Maurice said the Jets are aware of the balance between rhythm and rest but aren't holding Hellebuyck back.

"There's a fatigue component that a No. 1 goaltender also has to embrace," Maurice said. "He has to learn how to play when he doesn't feel 100 percent right because that's basically going to be his life."

Winnipeg has been able to give Hellebuyck blocks of two or three days completely off, a rarity for top goalies this time of year. The Nashville Predators have a big enough lead atop the Central Division that they can afford to lighten Pekka Rinne's workload down the stretch, which could be a huge benefit.

"I like thinking outside the box," former goalie Martin Biron said. "You may have a Friday-Saturday game, have a Tuesday game, have a Thursday game. You can play your starter on Friday-Saturday and not play him on Tuesday so he gets Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (off) and then he gets ready for the weekend again for the Thursday. There's a lot more days to be able to decompress and really think about how to reset and re-prepare."

Holtby got a 10-day reset from a month-plus of struggles as Philipp Grubauer started four games in a row. Having a reliable backup is a luxury Washington has — and Holtby doesn't like taking days off, either. Toronto starter Frederik Andersen recently joked that he's more tired of being asked if he's tired than he is from facing the most shots in the league.

Practice shots, warmups, travel and mental and physical preparation are also part of the wear and tear. Analyst Justin Goldman of The Goalie Guild said those can be spaced out over weeks and months.

"Anything you can do to get a little bit of extra sleep over the course of the season is absolutely monumental when it comes time for the playoff push," Goldman said.

Biron, who started 59 games for Philadelphia in 2007-08 and backed up Henrik Lundqvist when the New York Rangers realized the "King" needed more time off, figures 60 is the perfect number for a starter. For someone like Vasilevskiy who can't afford to learn and wait for next year, Boucher said he hopes a more relaxed market like Tampa Bay helps now and the rush of the playoffs gets him through the grind in a few weeks.

"I think Vasilevskiy's going to be fine just because you watch his physical attributes, they're through the roof," Boucher said. "So the physical side doesn't look like it's an issue. Now it's his time to shine."